Ectober 2016
by SkyeAedus
Summary: The one-shots I wrote for this year's Ectober event. Not all prompts were written.
1. Day One - Black Cat

Danny remembered telling Vlad to get a lonely guy cat. Of course he did; the last time he did so couldn't have been longer than three weeks ago. It was a running joke, almost as guaranteed to get Plasmius into a blind rage as calling him a fruitloop.

Of course, if he had known that this was going to happen, he never would have said a thing.

He paced back and forth, occasionally glancing at the contents of the alleyway. Danny had always been much more of a dog person, but this wouldn't be too much of a problem if it wasn't for one little detail.

In the shadows of the alley sat a large cardboard box, containing a thin layer of newspaper, an empty plastic bowl, and the limp form of a tiny black kitten.

Danny sighed. He knew that there must have been other kittens in there at some point - some of the fur caught in the scratched interior of the box was pure white and warm orange - but he also knew that most people wouldn't adopt a black cat simply because they symbolized bad luck. If the poor thing was in better health, he could just drop it off at the veterinarian in town and be done with it, but it was nearly dead. If he moved it, it could die, but it certainly wouldn't last the night if he left it there.

Biting his lip, the halfa finally made his decision. He carefully picked up the feline - a male - and hurriedly bundled it inside his coat. Usually, the fluffy garment was only for show because of his ice core, but Danny was genuinely glad he was wearing it today. The poor cat was almost as cold as he was, which was far from healthy.

"Hey there," He murmured, "My name is Danny, and I'm going to take care of you."


	2. Day Two - Midnight

Danny was used to seeing clocks that read midnight. Whether it was an analog clock or a digital alarm, he found that he saw almost every midnight come and go. In fact, he was fairly sure that he had seen many more midnights than noons in the last few months.

Most nights, he would lay in bed, wide awake despite his tiring routine. He would toss and turn, and sometimes go on patrol by himself. Unfortunately, he always ended up thinking far too much; his thoughts were prone to wandering in the absence of his friends.

On this particular night, he simply stared at the old wall clock, watching the second hand stutter forwards with a faint tick-tick-tick. It brought to mind a few of his more unpleasant - and common - considerations.

Every moment was another step towards the "distant" future. His power was constantly growing, and it was already far beyond what he should be capable of with less than a year of experience. If he was this strong now, as young as he was, what sort of creature would he be in another year? Ten? Twenty?

He rivaled his alternate half-self, who had destroyed the entire world, in power. He didn't really want to know what he would be able to do.

But he couldn't ignore the problem, especially when every passing second dragged him closer to that reality.

On the other hand, there was another possibility that was just as unnerving, and unfortunately likely. That clock could be ticking towards his death, sooner rather than later. Certainly, it wouldn't be by his own hand, but there were too many risks in his life. He fought ghosts on a nearly daily basis, sometimes multiple times a day. Too often, he found himself on the metaphorical ropes, fighting to the last of his energy. Too often, his will was all that helped him pull through.

Too often, he probably should have been dead, realistically speaking.

And if the ghosts wouldn't kill him, his own parents would. Despite his growing reputation as a hero, his parents' hatred for him persisted. They even made more and more weapons that could tear him apart and make it all too easy to examine his remains. He knew that he could be accepted if he did something huge and heroic, like with the Reality Trip incident, but on neutral ground… he wasn't so sure.

Thoughts like this spun through his head, forcing him to remain awake. With a sigh, Danny rubbed at his temples, fighting off a headache as he watched the minute hand and hour hand meet once again.


	3. Day Three - Ghostbusters

Danny hated doing this, but he didn't have a choice.

The half-ghost sighed and put a hand to his forehead. He knew full well why he was flying away from Amity Park at top speed, but that didn't alleviate the stress of what-ifs. Even so, he needed to make sure he got to New York before Vlad could pick up on recent events.

Of course, every ghost specialist worth their ecto-weaponry had heard about the ecto-exodus that had occurred a few short days ago. Fortunately, most ghost specialists weren't close friends with the women in the center of the paranormal event. The Fentons - the adult ones, at least - were.

When Danny heard that two of the "Ghostbusters" had been caught in a portal and came out with white hair, he had to check things out. If they were just contaminated with ectoplasm, he could at least help them get rid of it before it caused unfortunate side effects. If they were changed like he had been, on the other hand…

Danny and his team quickly arranged for a "physics camp" and the hybrid made a beeline for the Ghostbusters' base of operations.

Which, now that he lowered his hand and took a look around, he had finally located.

Without a word, Danny flew into an alley near the building and transformed, hurriedly entering as an underwhelming human teenager. Without a moment's hesitation, he approached the front desk.

"Hello," He greeted the receptionist, an annoyingly good-looking blond man, "I'm Danny Fenton, I'm here looking for-"

"Hi! I'm sorry, I'm supposed to be answering the phone. I can talk to you if you call!" The man said in a too-cheery manner.

Danny raised an eyebrow, "Dude, I'm standing right here. Besides…" He glanced at the phone, which had no cord or lights. "...That's a fake phone."

"No it's not. See? I can pick it up and talk into it, and people can hear me." The weirdo demonstrated, then gestured to the halfa. "You can hear me right now."

"Uh," Danny replied with impeccable grace and intellect. It still outweighed that of this guy, though.

"Oh, hey there. You need somethin', doll?" A new voice cut in.

Danny whipped round to face the speaker, surprised that someone had snuck up on him. Upon seeing the woman, he was even more unnerved by it. She wasn't exactly stealthy, with her loose jumpsuit weighed down with gadgets.

Noticing that he was staring at the lady, he forcibly snapped himself out of it and tried again to state his purpose, "Yes, actually. My name is Danny Fenton, and I'm looking for, uh… Erin Gilbert and Abby Yates? My mom and dad are friends of theirs."

"Well then," The woman nodded, "I guess you've come to the right place. Ain't much of anywhere else you can find a bunch of people waving around thermoses as they recklessly drive a hearse, is there?"

"Well, not a hearse… An RV-slash-assault-vehicle, though? Yeah, that's my family."

"And we've got another one. I'm Patty, and you can just follow me." Patty turned and led him deeper into the building, muttering, "A kid this time, really?"

Danny tried not to be offended by the underestimation. He had to try much harder not to laugh, though. He hadn't been 'just a kid' in a long time, it was kind of funny to be considered as one again.

Before long, the teenager found himself standing in a full-blown lab space, waiting for Patty to finish rounding up the rest of the Ghostbusters. In his boredom, he started to fiddle mindlessly with some of the gizmos. He was repairing a misaligned ecto-electric converter when the team arrived.

"Hey, don't touch that!" the dark-haired one instructed, "That is a highly dangerous-"

"Without any electrical feed, the ecto-electric converter can't do a single thing. If that isn't working, then all of the potentially dangerous parts of the entire machine are kaput. I'll be fine, it's not radioactive… which is more than I can say for most of the things in this room." Danny interrupted absentmindedly, finishing his self-imposed task before he actually started paying attention to the women. He zoned in just in time to register the blonde mouthing something about him and parties.

"Right… who are you supposed to be again?" asked the last one, who had Garfield-orange hair, "I don't think a kid should be in here. Should a kid be in here?"

With a sigh, Danny introduced himself for a third time, "I'm Danny Fenton. The son of Maddie and Jack Fenton? I'm here about the portal, and what it can do to people."

The women exchanged a heavy, confused glance. Patty was the first to respond, "What it can do to people? You mean bleach your hair? Nothin' too bad about that."

"Yeah, but there miiiiight be side effects. I'm guessing Garfield over here is Erin? And Ms. Yates, I remember you." Danny guessed. Without waiting for confirmation, he offered a hand to Erin first, who shook it, then he did the same for Abby.

When she stepped forward, a device on her hip lit up bright pink and started spinning rapidly. Everyone froze, Danny staring at the machine and the Ghostbusters looking back and forth between the two.

After a long moment, Erin spoke up, "What was that about possible side effects?"


End file.
